The skies broke in the wee hours of the morning on April 23, and unleashed a rainstorm of biblical proportions onto the town of Quechee, VT. Rising from a sound asleep, the nine members of Skidmore Cycling slowly began to realize that the coming day would see them racing in conditions that should have seen them rolling over and going back to sleep. But such is not the Skidmore Cycling way. Instead we dragged ourselves up, ate breakfast and loaded our bikes onto the cars to compete in L’Enfer du Nord, organized by Dartmouth and UVM.

The drive to Plainsfield, NH for the team time trial was short, and gave us just enough time to see how much it was raining. But once Tom, Ricky, Sam, and I had all got dressed and started to warm up, the day began to seem a little less dreary – but just a little. After choosing to ignore a half-hearted request from the Harvard team to take it easy on them, we were off.

The course was mostly downhill after the start for about six miles, before we turned around to climb back up the massive hills. We rode incredibly well as a team, and with muscles fueled by pasta and homemade sauce (it’s a family recipe, don’t ask!) prepared by our hosts, the Fosdick family, parents of sophomore Kate Fosdick, we sprinted in to the line in third place, besting our result from the week before and beating the team from UNH by 1 second. Only the remarkably strong riders from UVM and Dartmouth, with the home-court advantage posted faster times.

Later in the day, after we all had a chance to wring ourselves, and our clothes out we headed down to Dartmouth’s campus in Hanover, NH for the afternoon’s criterium. Excited about the prospect of racing around the kilometer-long course, with the usual six 90-degree turns, on the rain-slicked course, Stephen began to warm up for his Men’s D race. Although the pace was fast off the line, he managed to stay in the lead group for the first few laps of the race, before finally being forced by a lack of vision, caused by the increasing downpour, to drop back, eventually finishing 17th.

Meanwhile, the rest of the team had erected our big blue tent, and despite feeling somewhat inadequate next to UVM’s, Yale’s, Princeton’s, and Colby’s bigger tents, we all began to warm up as the tempest grew more intense outside. When it finally came time for us to start, the rain was so intense that only Ricky, Jeff, Tom and I were stupid enough to go to the start line. After the race started, it was immediately clear that the conditions could not be ridden safely, except by the most daring riders.

Ricky decided that he’d had enough after one lap. I lasted about three, maybe four. Jeff and Tom rode a strong race, and Jeff was extremely disappointed when he was pulled from the race with five laps to go. Tom, who is undoubtedly the most daring rider on our team when it comes to unsafe conditions and speeds, hung on and finished 12th.

Later in the afternoon, Anna lined up to compete in the women’s A event. The field of 28 riders, was whittled down to just three when Anna, Amy Wallace from Darmouth, and Laura Van Alst from UNH went off the front with two laps to go. In the final sprint, Wallace, spurred on by a dozens of her peers cheering her from the side of the road, went on to take the win, with Anna taking second.

And finally Dave lined up for men’s A event, which was, true to form, conducted at absurdly quick speeds, even around the course that still had rivers of water running in the gutters. Dave, who had a terrible starting position, was forced to start out in the back, and after chasing his way up to the front of the group for the first several laps, eventually retired, choosing instead to save himself for the next day’s road race. The team then beat a hasty retreat back to the Fosdick’s home, where we refueled with more of Mr. Fosdick’s secret sauce, and vegetated in front of Direct TV’s high-quality satellite signal.

When we woke up the following morning for the road race, rain was pounding on the roof above our heads. The team soon faced the most indecisive moment in our brief history. Go to the race and suffer in the cold rain, or sleep for another hour and go out to breakfast.

Although our minds were set on breakfast; everything changed once Dave woke up. Set on riding his race, he convinced us that we at least ought to give those who wanted to ride the opportunity to do so. So, in a rushed and hurried manner, we all threw our stuff into the cars and drove back to Hanover. Without so much as a warm up, Tom, Sam, Ricky, Jeff and I rolled up to the start line. The course, which starts with a steep climb away from the town of Norwich, VT was one which we would have been excited to race, had the conditions not been so awful.

Once the race started, the pace was, as always, very quick off the line. Tom and Sam, setting the pace on the course’s fist climb, quickly dropped Ricky and I. We rode one of the three laps we were supposed to have ridden, before calling it quits. Sam, Tom, and Jeff, were all riding competitively in the lead pack until Sam crashed on one the course’s many punishing climbs, and retired from the race. Tom and Jeff were also eventually dropped from the lead group, but rode on to finish 21 and 29, a strong showing considering the terrible conditions on the road.

Later in the day, Anna and Dave lined up for their respective A races. While it was hard to get a sense of the action, since the racers were only visible for a few seconds every 40 minutes, it was clear that there was a dramatic race unfolding in the men’s A field when UVM’s Dan Cassidy broke off the front of the group only 3 miles into the 75 mile event. Despite a furious chase by three riders including ECCC points leader Brent Davis of Columbia University, Cassidy was able to stay away, raking his second victory the season.

Dave, drenched from the rain and freezing from the cold, decided to attack off the front at the end of his second lap, to the delight of his team mates cheering from the side of road. He then promptly abandoned the race, choosing instead to cheer for Anna. At just about the same time that Dave withdrew from his race, the sun finally broke through the rain clouds.

In the women's A race, Anna and a handful of girls had dropped a large portion of their field after only one lap, including nemesis Wallace. After riding a difficult and competitive race, Anna eventually came around for the finish with only two other companions, everyone else having been dropped. In an exciting sprint finish, Anna took third, before we all piled into the cars and headed for home.

Although the weekend had it’s moments, especially our result in the team time trial, this was one of the most difficult weekends of the season, both mentally and physically. We are all planning on using the next week to rest and recuperate before heading off to close our season at UNH, April 30 and 31. As always, you can find photos of all the action on our website, www.skidmorecycling.com

Happy Riding!
Andrew Bernstein
VP Communications
Skidmore Cycling